I recently played in a tournament where a known Super Aggressive player with Deep Pockets was playing directly to my left. I started hearing grumblings of "OH NO, NOT HIM..." and "well looks like this table will be expensive" and numerous sighs and groans. We were about to start an unlimited Rebuy tournament and this guy has a history of Rebuying between 15-25 times before the Rebuy Period is over. If you tilt him, he can start to shove every hand and it is hilarious watching the table dynamics of not just him, but the other players unfold as well. I usually get excited when I get a player like this sit at my table because you can just pick apart these types of players. There are a few things I mainly do when I come in contact with this type of player.
1. Don't get discouraged or intimidated by this opponents play. That is what he wants you to do. He will try to bet you off the hand if you show weakness regardless of his cards so if your gut instinct tells you that you have the best hand, chances are you probably do. There was a hand I played against him one day where I was holding J7 suited and flop came A J 7 rainbow. I bet on the flop and the Super Aggressor quickly called after checking in the dark to me. The turn came a 10 and also put a straight with possible flush draw on the board. I bet about 1/3 the pot and this time he raises me 2x my bet which also put me all in. The Range of hands this opponent can hold could be HUGE and he loves to play the dynamics of a board to put fear in his opponents when rarely holding a strong hand (this can be tricky as when they do hold strong hands it is disguised well, but that is when you need to use your psychological reading skills to determine what is a legit strong hand and what is making a move). He started that signature smirk he has and he is a very talkative player and loves creating attention, as many super aggressive players do, but in this hand he was very quiet and had this glare in his eye. Looking at 2 pair I have a strong feeling that I have the best hand right now since he is ACTING strong, I sensed weakness. After some Deliberation and replaying the hand in my head, I make the call and show my 2 pair as he turns over A5 os and misses the river to improve and I scoop a nice pot over $500.
2. Play small ball poker and don't try to out do the aggressor. This is a good time for ABC poker as far as hand selection and also allowing your opponent to pay you off with his blind rage of aggression when you make a strong hand. You must remember if you show weakness to an opponent who smells blood they will attack, and do so relentlessly, so if the weakness is shown after getting a monster, chances are you will be paid off as long as you don't give off any hint that you want them to pay you off. It is best to do so when out of position, but if you have position on this player and he is not betting into you, throwing out small bets "bait" that are disguised to look like feeler bets will usually initiate the Deep Pocket Donk to discredit your play and throw in a raise. If the Deep Pocket Donk is betting into you, there is no need to Raise until the river to maximize value of the hand.
3. Don't play into their game. Alot of players that do not adjust well to these types of players usually try to do the same thing that player is doing, by making really loose calls with very skeptical hands or reraising the Deep Pocket Donk with very skeptical hands. It is important to stick to the fundamentals and play the hands that have high percentage of winning because like always, in the long run the good players will beat the players that depend on variance for success and look at poker like Bingo or Strictly Luck. That is what separates the good winning poker players from the bad. It is important to keep a level head and don't let them tilt you or you will get outplayed or even miss value in hands where you could have easily stacked your opponents. When the other players focus on the Super Aggressive at the table, you can quietly take in added chips from other opponents as long as you are not detected and continue to show down good hands and avoid getting out drawn.
I hope this helps you dig into the pockets of these players as they will continue to reload and become more aggressive every time you take from their stack! So enjoy the ride and hope they never leave the table!
Matt S
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